Mistress Llorai waited until Erenthril had finished scribbling down everything she’d said before plowing onwards. She tossed him a cheeky grin when he looked up.
“Other basic things for you to know. Come over here,” she spoke, walking around the table to the opposite corner of the room and coming to stand next to a barrel. Erenthril left the papyrus and quill behind to follow her.
“You’ll remember me using the term Ethanol earlier, yes? Well, there are more useful things you can create from alcohol, particularly when it comes to wine. You’ll see here,” she spoke, pointing into the dark shadowy barrel at the edges of the inside,
“some liquid gooey stuff lining the sides. That’s called tartar. If you get it to react with calcined antimony, you’ll end up with something formally known as Tartar Emetic. It’s a poisonous substance, but often times used anyways – the most difficulties I’ve ever experienced with it was nausea and some vomiting,” she shrugged her shoulders and walked back to where they were stationed.
Eren joined her and penned this information down.
“Now this vial here” she held it up for him to see.
“Is called cyanide. Go ahead and smell it – it’s similar to almonds. It’s a rather dangerous poison… dangerous by both inhalation and direct contact. Most alchemists use it to extract gold, silver, and platinum from rocks. You can create it by distilling almonds or clovers after they’ve been ground sufficiently. I suggest you hold off on trying it right away though,” she winked, before returning the vial back to the cabinet. Eren caught a glimpse of the small inked markings on its side; a skull and crossbones. It was the one he had initially seen the day before.
“Of course, not to be outdone, you also have Lye, which is also caustic. Simple to make, just wash wood ash with distilled water and then undergo Calcination via boiling. Used mostly for soaps, though I prefer to buy my own…
“And here we have Distilled Vinegar. You can make this also from wine, though really it’s just vinegar that’s been distilled. It’s a rather decent acid, good for testing things out. Not necessarily caustic, you see, but not a pushover either. Forms a bunch of interesting salts…” she trailed off, peeking over his shoulder as he jotted down the information. Chuckling to herself, she stepped back and began putting items back onto the cabinet. The lesson was almost concluded for the brightening.
“We also have tar here,” she spoke, picking up a rather large glass bowl-like figure filled with the gooey blackness.
“You get it from coal and shale deposits. A lot of people use it to patch things up or make sure ships don’t sink… that sort of thing. And here we have Cinnabar, the primary ore mercury is derived from… and which you can derive also if you distill it from metal. The technical name is rather longer I’m afraid, Mercuric sulphide. M-e-r-c-u-r-i-c. That’s correct,” she tapped his paper once,
“Its slang term is Vermillion, and it’s mostly used as pigmentation for paints.
“This last one here,” she spoke, lifting the last jar on the table that contained a substance similar to brass.
“Is called Marcasite. You dissolve it from iron. Sometimes Bismuth. Doesn’t do anything interesting, really, but it’s a component you’ll use for more advanced reactions. These are all the basic chemicals you’ll need to know Heru Mael’tharias.”
Somewhere within the last few minutes she’d put everything up and had been leading him to the door. When they stepped outside, Eren squinted his eyes to ward off the bright sunlight. He turned inwards as she proceeded to lock the heavy wooden door, her cheerful face looking up at him and smiling.
“It was a pleasure to teach you. You’re a little too quiet for my tastes, I’m afraid, but.. well, if you were interested in coming back someday, I’d be delighted to have you again.”
With that and a short curtsey and a bob of her head, she bounded off back to the main hall of the University.
Modeled after Darian's Alchemy Thread